The present invention relates to containers formed from foldable sheet material, and more particularly, to a wall mounted, gravity-fed dispensing container.
Paperboard containers are used extensively in packaging a wide variety of products. It has been recognized that economies can be achieved by dispensing products directly from containers in which they are shipped. In this connection, the following patents are of general interest: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,300,115 to Schauer; 2,036,864 to Einson; 1,959,231 to Dube; and 1,189,779 to Becker.
It is often useful to provide sequential access to the articles in the container so that they may be orderly removed, one at a time, as they are needed. To this end, a number of gravity-fed dispensing containers have been developed, in which a mouth is cut away from a lower portion of the container and a stack of articles is supported in the container so that the articles slope forward. A retaining lip engages the bottommost article in the stack. Such containers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,341,893 and 1,956,642 to Fitzgerald and Einson, respectively.
These prior art containers have the disadvantage in that removal of the bottommost article from the stack requires raising of the article to clear the lower lip and inclining the article in an opposite way from the remaining articles of the stack while pulling the article outwardly. In addition the forward slope of the articles is achieved with some difficulty: Fitzgerald requires a second blank to form a sloping insert; Einson employs a rhombohedral container which may present problems if the containers are to be shipped in a larger, rectangular carton.
A somewhat different approach to the design of gravity-fed dispensing containers is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,764,468 and 1,898,056 to Pratt and Johnson, respectively. Pratt discloses a dispensing container in which the stack of articles (rather than the individual articles) and the container are inclined by an easel back support. Johnson discloses a dispensing carton for cylindrical articles in which a downwardly and rearwardly inclined lip is used to prevent unassisted discharge of the cylindrical articles. Neither container is adapted for wall mounting or dispensing from a vertical stack of articles or packets.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vertically oriented, container for dispensing articles which may be wall mounted or calmit mounted.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a gravity-fed container for dispensing from a vertical stack of articles.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an inexpensively and easily fabricated container for inclining and dispensing articles, one at a time from a vertical stack.
Frequently, the cost of packaging numerous small articles in a larger container is a significant portion of the delivered cost of the packaged product. This is particularly true in the case of containers for small, inexpensive notions, individually wrapped in flat packets, such as pads inpregnated with soap, spot remover, shoe polish, etc.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensively and easily fabricated mouth and support structure for a container for dispensing stacked articles or packets.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a gravity-fed dispensing container which is formed from a single blank without gluing.
Typically, containers for stacked articles or packets are end-loaded from a flat tray or shoe. Particularly in the case of containers for small, flat packets, loading could be expedited if the stacks of articles did not have to be end-loaded from such trays or shoes.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a back-loading dispensing container for a vertical stack of small packets.
Handling costs are reduced if the shipping container for flat packets could function, without substantial modification, as the dispensing container and as a display for the articles.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wall-hanging dispensing container for small packets with provision for displaying one of the packets.
These and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the claims and from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.